Manhattan Beach mayor runs for state Senate

Ashley Cohen
Staff Writer

Manhattan Beach Mayor Amy Howorth publicly announced on Feb. 12 that she will be running for the California state Senate against four other candidates for Senator Ted Lieu’s state Senate seat in the 26th District.

Howorth will be running against Santa Monica school board member Ben Allen; former Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, women’s rights activist and attorney Sandra Fluke, and Los Angeles physician Vito Imbasciani, all of whom are Democrats.

“I believe it is imperative that we have a representative in Sacramento who has local government experience and institutional knowledge of our community,” Manhattan Beach City Council member Wayne Powell said. “Howorth is the only candidate who has these qualifications.”

Lieu will not be running for re-election, but instead will run for retiring Representative Henry Waxman’s seat in Congress.

According to Howorth, she was content with the work she is doing on the Manhattan Beach City Council, and was not initially planning to run for state Senate.

“There was nobody else from the South Bay area,” Howorth said. “I felt like there should be someone from this community running, and I wanted to be the person to represent the South Bay.”

Before becoming Manhattan Beach mayor, Howorth served on the Manhattan Beach City Council. She also served as a Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees member for eight years. Howorth believes it is critical for a state senator to understand educational issues in the state.

“I find that current and former school board members tend to understand state financing very well, which is definitely an advantage that I have,” Howorth said. “We have had a lot of local success in Manhattan Beach, and I want to bring that energy to Sacramento.”

Howorth has been endorsed by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi from the Torrance District, who represents about 31 percent of the 26th Senate District. The primary will take place on June 3, and the general election for the top two candidates is set for Nov. 4.

“I’d love to see the Mira Costa students get involved in the campaign,” Howorth said. “I’ll have lots of interesting volunteering opportunities for them.”